THE INCLUSION OF LUPIN (LUPINUS-ANGUSTIFOLIUS) SEED MEAL OR ITS FIBERRESIDUE IN THE DIET REDUCES THE LEVELS OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI IN BOTH SMALL AND LARGE-INTESTINES OF THE RAT

An investigation into the anti-nutritive effect of feeding lupin seeds to male Hooded-Lister rats, showed that lupin containing diets decrea sed the numbers of Escherichia coli in the caecum, colon and the small intestine. This potentially beneficial lowering of E. coli population s in the gut may be due to the hindrance by the lupin fibre of the att achment of E. coli to gut receptors, since the effect also occurred in the small intestine where the lupin residue particles have not yet be en degraded by bacterial fermentation. Accordingly, it may be possible to use lupin residue as a dietary supplement for reducing the number of potentially harmful E. coli in the monogastric gut.